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Re: new grocer IS coming..
#31
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The pricing is right on par with the (filthy) a & p.
The parking is free w validation up to 2 hours. Also it is covered (on the first level of the parking garage) with a direct entrance into store so you don't have to get wet on a rainy day going to and from the car.

I was there last night - really. really nice store. Real tile floors instead of linoleum. Definitely worth a visit.

Posted on: 2008/6/18 12:18
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Re: Sleeping in New Jersey Helps New York Tourists Afford Hotels
#32
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The Manhattan rate for the Courtyard Marriott (on the West Side) is about $100 - $150 more per night. Manhattan hotels are routinely $500+ per night now. They took a lot out of the market for condo conversion over the last 10 years and so you have a supply problem now.

Posted on: 2008/6/17 10:52
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Re: Abatement revise to be approved for two downtown towers (Washington Boulevard and Sixth Street)
#33
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NNJR:

During the 10-year "Abatement" period, assuming a "10%" formula instead of a "16%" formula, the developers will pay approximately 115% of what they would pay under normal taxation. Also during this period, the City will collect and keep approximately 190% of what they would collect and keep under normal taxation.

At the end of the 10-year "Abatement" period, when the property goes under normal taxation, the City's year to year revenue will drop by 90% from this building, and the developer's payment will drop by 15%.

In other words, the longer the "Abatement" the longer the City gets more money than it would under regular taxes.

In recent examples, developers have asked for the shortest term "abatement" possible, and the City has been pushing back by requiring longer term.

In this case, the "giveaway" by the City is in the shortness of the term, since the developer was planning to walk away from the "abatement" and just pay regular taxes and demand his $2.4 mn dollar "prepayment" back.

Posted on: 2008/4/23 12:49
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Re: Toll Brother's Travesty in the PAD
#34
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Facetious rhetorical question:

In what way do any of you on this board believe your political (or other) support is important to any councilperson other than the one from Ward E?

Just so you understand some ground rules:

1) You can get all the recognition you want in the Jersey Journal but no one reads it and no one in the City cares what it says.

2) Toll Brothers et. al. have much less political influence than you think they do - to the extent any of the developers donate to the current HCDO crop's political campaigns, it pales in comparison to the funds 'obtained' for them by trade unions, city vendors/contractors and government employees.

3) In politics, special interest groups only get special attention if their votes can be reliably directed to one spot on the ballot with little direct vote-getting effort. (These are often called 'single issue voters').

Sorry if the question might seem a bit caustic, but I want to try to stimulate you to think about how you can get better results in the future.

Posted on: 2008/4/11 0:21
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Re: Judge escapes scandal, lands city job
#35
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Now that Matsikoudis has hired

1) his no-show disgraced brother to work on the Mayor's personal defense

and

2) a disgraced, corrupt municipal judge

Will he bring in Eliot Spitzer as an assistant corporation counsel next?

Excuse me but reading this piece makes chunks of vomit churn up to my neck. This administration is beyond outrageous - they are so brazenly, nakedly corrupt.

Where are you Chris Christie?
Where are you Jonathan Miller?

Posted on: 2008/3/15 23:34
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Re: Judge escapes scandal, lands city job
#36
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Now that Matsikoudis has hired

1) his no-show disgraced brother to work on the Mayor's personal defense

and

2) a disgraced, corrupt municipal judge

Will he bring in Eliot Spitzer as an assistant corporation counsel next?

Excuse me but reading this piece makes chunks of vomit churn up to my neck. This administration is beyond outrageous - they are so brazenly, nakedly corrupt.

Where are you Chris Christie?
Where are you Jonathan Miller?

Posted on: 2008/3/15 23:32
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Re: Willie Flood hires son twice for $50G-plus ( Yes, that son )
#37
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They blame Fulop because he is the only council member without multiple government jobs and as such makes the rest of them look bad - kind of like Serpico refusing to 'graze' with the rest of the precinct.

That said, don't expect Fulop to get rid of this crew. Their vast network of clients around the City pretty much guarantees long term continued abuse and personal appropriation of your tax dollars.

Don't assume there is any love between this administration and the downtown business community either. The big downtown businesses, both developers and financial services alike, are deeply mistrustful of the current politicians. These are big, legitimate companies and for them to get in bed with people who they suspect are going to be loaded into a police wagon is just not worth the risk. I can tell you from some first hand experience that the developers are afraid to be associated with what they consider a corrupt administration and afraid of their typically anti-business legislative and administrative policies. If you think crime, flip-taxes and an inebriated felon as mayor are bad for individual homeowners, imagine how bad they are for a company that is trying to build and then sell 200 luxury apartment homes.

If you are looking for the crooked use of payoffs, the place to find them is in the small to mid-sized government contract vendors. Most work performed by the municipality is performed by 3rd party contractors. Those contractors donate to campaigns and help out with manpower on election day. Politicians squabble over which of their supporters will get municipal and county work contracts - paid with your dollars, not necessarily to the real lowest bidder. They squabble just like they do over which of their relatives and ward heelers ('young people who worked so hard on their campaign') will get cushy no-show government jobs.

Posted on: 2008/3/12 11:07
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Re: Willie Flood hires son twice for $50G-plus ( Yes, that son )
#38
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The reporter who scares this administration the most is Jonathan Miller of the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/nyr ... tml?scp=4&sq=healy&st=nyt

I have no clue how you would contact him but you might be able to just pick up the phone. They are all just journalists after all.

Posted on: 2008/3/10 0:57
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Re: Willie Flood hires son twice for $50G-plus ( Yes, that son )
#39
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So if you think of it and have a minute, the next time something sketchy happens in JC (and it will), write an email to the media - here's a few addresses....

Scooter, why would you wait until next time? None of those news outlets have reported on any of those items yet. And those are just the tip of the iceberg. The nepotism and patronage that you see take place on a daily basisin both city hall and the county building is appalling. If you aren't taking the time to email them yourself, you're as apathetic as everyone else in downtown - and to that I would say:

Q.E.D.

Posted on: 2008/3/9 20:52
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Re: Willie Flood hires son twice for $50G-plus ( Yes, that son )
#40
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Quote:
"This City Council, we all look out for each other,


I think that just about says it all right there.

The sad thing is that downtowners such as those who amuse themselves on this board don't realize that our embarrassingly drunk Mayor and council carry with them a major vote making machine by virtue of their vast network of patronage, nepotism and 'looking out for each other.' The City and this Bulletin Board are very different places, and what's more, the apathy of downtowners means no other candidate will be able to muster a well organized or large enough force of 'ward heelers' to get out the votes to seriously challenge the current kleptocrats in the 2009 election.

Yes, they are robbing you blind every day in the form of a massively over-sized government with literally hundreds of no-show, high benefits jobs and juicy vendor contracts which are given out to political supporters, relatives and key members of special interest contingencies. Yes, you will continue to do nothing about it other than maybe vote for one council member and maintain an 1-8 minority.

Posted on: 2008/3/9 17:59
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Re: Tax abatements
#41
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If you are a small property owner, you simply need to prove that you are increasing the size or value of your property by more than 33%. Go down to City Hall and get the necessary paperwork from Ed Tolozo, the Tax Assessor. The taxes on the improvement will be scheduled as follows:

Year 1 = 0% of equalized value tax levy of improvement
Year 2 = 20% of equalized value tax levy of improvement
Year 3 = 40% of equalized value tax levy of improvement
Year 4 = 60% of equalized value tax levy of improvement
Year 5 = 80% of equalized value tax levy of improvement
Year 6 = 100% of equalized value tax levy of improvement

In Jersey City, the equalized value tax levy is around 1.4% of actual value, which in the case of an improvement is the improvement's hard construction cost. A bill, or bills, from your contractor(s) will ultimately document this.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If you are a large property owner, you need to get an ordinance passed which will set taxes at rates that are higher than traditional taxes and calculated as a percentage of the new property's gross income. This starts by writing one and calling the Council's Abatement Committee for a hearing on your abatement ordinance. Call the City Clerk for help scheduling, or better yet, just call a local attorney to help you. Since you are looking for advice on a bulleting board, I have to assume you are asking about the small property abatements not the large ones.

Posted on: 2008/2/6 11:54
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Re: T-shirt making fun of Mayor Healy circulates -- sources point to Fulop's political consultant
#42
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I want to respond to your comment in all seriousness Jennymayla. The Mayor comes to work at least slightly inebriated nearly every day. He makes almost all of his decisions 'under the influence,' as you put it. He also sets a standard of behavior for his large staff, 'under the influence,' and attempts to manage a major bureaucracy and the services it is supposed to deliver to residents while 'under the influence.'

You can judge those decisions, that standard-setting and that management as you see fit, good or bad - but I assure you, there is a real impairment on the job.

The police are not allowed to drink during the duty day, why should their commander-in-chief not be subjected to the same requirements?

Posted on: 2007/9/30 22:58
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Re: Jersey City Mayor Healy arrested after Bradley Beach incident
#43
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This guy is sad. If he is re-elected mayor, I seriously doubt his body will last the term. Diabetes and alcoholism is a recipe for liver failure.

Posted on: 2007/9/29 10:22
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Re: Fulop: Let's tighten our ethics rules
#44
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Healy stated: "The City Council made a decision for various reasons, the most important being the proposed resolution was beyond the powers of the City Council under the terms of the Faulkner Act, which governs Cities of the First Class, which Jersey City is."

This is an infuriatingly stupid argument with no merit other than it is deliberately confusing to readers who have no time or interest to actual looking up the Faulkner Act to see what it says.

The Faulkner Act does not in any even remote way prevent the City from adopting ethics standards by which its Council operates. It establishes that the City is to be run by a Council and a Mayor, but the Council ABSOLUTELY CAN self impose restrictions as to the type of jobs its members can hold after they have been elected. The Faulkner Act in no way prohibits this.

This is just absurd. Truly absurd.

Posted on: 2007/9/14 11:32
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Re: To intro LeFrak deal tonight -- Unwilling to live with 5 year abatement 31-story "Aquablu"
#45
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Hi Fat-Ass-Bike,

Please have a look at my older posts. The City practices needless double talk when it comes to the so-called "abatements."

The reason they accepted this one and all the other ones was not because of a need to spur development, but rather because:

1) The City receives more dollars from a property under a PILOT "abatement" than it does when the property is taxed traditionally.

2) The builder pays more dollars in taxes when the property is paying the PILOT "abatement" formula than when it pays traditional taxes, in exchange for some advance tax certainty.

Because of the sometime enormous overcharge caused by the PILOT formula, several abatements have been terminated by property owners on a voluntary basis in the last 3 years and Jersey City has lost millions of dollars of revenue as a result. They can make up those lost dollars by either raising the traditional property tax rate (and performing a re-val), or encouraging developers to take new PILOT deals.

In this case, if you read the history of the articles, the builder first did not want a PILOT deal, then asked for a 5-year abatement, then was rejected and told by the Council to come back for at least a 15-year PILOT, then started construction and came back with a 10-year PILOT to the City's liking, and then had the deal approved.

Unlike in NY and other places, "abatements" in Jersey City have nothing to do with spurring development, and never have. They have everything to do with the City covering its budget while keeping traditional property taxes at the relatively reasonable rate of 1.4% of value (as equalized). Unless the City can find a way to cut its budget, of course.

Posted on: 2007/9/14 11:14
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Re: Fulop: Let's tighten our ethics rules
#46
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Another thought.

The best way to permanently resolve this problem would be to re-consolidate the Cities back into the County, put 90% of Governmental responsibility with the County and let the Cities become much like the Community Boards in New York - they have input on land use but that's about it.

County of Hudson should be responsible for Police, Fire, Schools, Garbage, Utilities, Social Services, Economic Development, Transportation Infrastructure, etc..

Posted on: 2007/9/11 12:15

Edited by JCLAW on 2007/9/11 12:39:10
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Re: Fulop: Let's tighten our ethics rules
#47
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If "JCLAW" is still around, I would welcome his/her take on the proposed oridinances. Is there a downside? (not likely).

This is an ethical question, not a legal one.

If you believe your elected JC officials use their influence as functionaries at the County or elsewhere to bring benefits back from the County to the City, then they are upholding their JC offices, but you should vote out the County Executive who appointed functionaries who have an ulterior interest (outside the best interests of their employer - the County).

If you believe your elected JC officials use their influence as JC pols to send benefits up to the County (and other cities in the county vis. the Water Supply Giveaway Scandal), then you should vote them out of their JC elected positions.

If you are completely uncynical and believe that your elected JC officials are ethical perfectionists who can separate the interests of the City and the County when they are working in each place, then perhaps its ok.

If none of the above is possible due to a corrupt, 1-party system where the elected officials are essentially 'appointed' by a cabal of political club members in a grand exchange of favors, contracts, patronage jobs and other goodies, then I can understand why this 1-man 1-office legislation might make the system more "democratic." That said, I'm sure you can expect 7-2 or 8-1 vote - this is definitely just 'tilting at windmills' for the sake of politics.

Posted on: 2007/9/11 10:51
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Re: July 30 fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton at a Newport tower
#48
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"No can't let Fulop look good,Healy could have went there and been the bigger man.I'm sure they would have extended happy hour until he got back.Asshole...."

Mr. Rogers your post really sums up the achievements of the current administration in a nice, concise way. More interested in the unstarted 2009 election campaign than bringing attention, growth and life to the City.

Posted on: 2007/7/31 11:00
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Re: How to develop western JC? 160 acres including warehouse on agenda for Planning Board
#49
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""[The project is] an effort to bring some of the large scale development occurring on the Gold Coast and the eastern part of the city to the west side and [Route] 1 and 9,"

I believe that our McMayor is being padded to make this deal. First of all the above statement is a bizarre and absurd distortion. The development occuring on the Gold Coast consists of luxury condos and office towers for high pay skilled worker jobs. Anyone who has ever seen a high cube warehouse knows that it is a box full of humanless robotic sorting machines and in 1 million square feet, it will have about 100 jobs. A similarly sized office building would have about 3,500 workers in it.

Moreover this ruins the real value - as planned - for the City's Western Waterfront. I'm sure Bob Cotter is in tears over this. JC is burning its chances at another Gold Coast because someone must have gotten into the Mayor's pocket to convince him to push for this thing.

Finally the claim that the City is in dire need of the $1mm in annual PILOT revenue from this thing is somewhat spurious. Virtually every single waterfront condo or office building throws off at least $1mm in new PILOT tax revenue for the City, yet you never see the Mayor throwing his weight around to support each of those projects. He could replace the $1mm in revenue from this project with just one PILOT agreement for any 200-unit Condo building on the Western Waterfront.

Like I said, someone must have gotten into the Mayor's jeans on this one. What a shameful waste of waterfront property.

Posted on: 2007/7/29 16:29
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Re: Jersey City may get some local control of schools
#50
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Warning: Do NOT read this as good news. This is AWFUL news.

This means that the State is preparing to make JC pay the annual $70 million tab for its school system instead of continuing to pick it up

AND

This means that the usual JC cronyism and patronage will now go into the operation of the school system which will result in even LESS $ getting into the classrooms to be spent on our childrens' education.

If you care about the value of your home, FIGHT THIS PLAN.

Posted on: 2007/7/25 9:46
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Re: Black out in Newport
#51
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The blackout lasted like 45 minutes. I think lightning hit a transformer somewhere in the HP area.

Posted on: 2007/7/16 12:24
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Re: Are new labor rules believable?
#52
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alb: The article is in today's Joisey Journal. It has a table of which projects are Union Built and which are not, and compares the % of minorities in each. In every case the Union project have about 10% local or minority workers, and the Non-Union projects have about 40% local or minority workers. The article is written, the math is done. Now do you seriously expect the Dhimmicrats to go after their #1 constituent (Organized Labor)? HAH!

Kermit: The problem is, the legislation forces the developer to use UNION contractors, and then when the UNION doesn't send local/minority/apprentice workers to the site, the City imposes a huge penalty on . . . . . . . . THE DEVELOPER!

- SHEER HYPOCRISY!

Posted on: 2007/7/11 22:13
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Re: Are new labor rules believable?
#53
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This ordinance is INANE!

Builders have to use Unions in Jersey City because if they don't they can expect pickets, strikes and job site 'disturbances' as well as the usual antics of Union agitators sneaking onto jobsites and damaging work and stealing supplies to punish non-union contractors. Builders get no assistance from the City in defending against this because the City is PRO-UNION.

At the same time, the City expects the workers on UNION job sites to come from Jersey City and be minorities. UNIONS are the MOST RACIST BIGOTED organizations in America and their hiring halls are devoid of brown faces and local youths who are not part of a legacy of family relationships with existing UNION members. Want to get into the UNION? You'd better be Irish or Italian with relatives who are already members. Otherwise you are better off spending your energy getting into College and getting a real job.

For the City to tell builders they have to hire Union AND hire local minorities is irresponsible, hypocritical, and impossible.

YOU CAN'T HAVE BOTH, JERSEY CITY. IT'S ONE OR THE OTHER IN THIS TOWN.

Posted on: 2007/7/11 12:56
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Re: Jersey City Mayor Healy arrested after Bradley Beach incident
#54
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The guy is seriously medically addicted and has the shakes all morning until he gets his first drop of sauce at 11AM. He has a real problem and is not in condition to have this kind of responsibility. He needs 6 months at a clinic, not the stress of a mayor's job. If we re-elect him, we deserve him. The City is not being managed at this point.

The real Mayor is the Business Administrator and the Council is running amok.

Posted on: 2007/6/22 10:35
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Re: FYI...Interesting factoids about the Shore Club
#55
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I would recommend you check the tax assessors list again after all sales in a building are closed. The prices aren't filed with the City until the actual closing, and the taxes are generated on that basis. If they are still finishing up the building (which it looks like to me since I live about 400 feet away) the complete list of sales won't be online until about a month after the last unit is closed upon.

At that point someone could make a really interesting matrix of sales prices in south vs north towers, but the dates listed are irrelevant because they reflect the closing date, not the date the contracts are signed.

Hope that helps your study!

Posted on: 2007/6/19 23:11
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Re: shore club - property tax too high?
#56
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"I'd have to say the local sheeple are happy to jostle for position in-line on their way to the gubermint tax shearing conveyor belt"


Especially so in New Jersey. New York actually managed to cut property taxes twice in a row the last two years.

NJ is so anti-business, anti-growth now that they are just raping the taxpayers and property owners repeatedly to pay the unbelievably bloated pension and long-term healthcare benefits of too many current and retired government patronage workers. Did you catch the article on the cover of the NY Times this morning about McGreevey's $billion failed pension buyout mistake?

And the worst part is, the local pols here in JC have the voters totally snowed about their irresponsible nepotistic and paternal hirings and consequential budget mismanagement all of which is paid for by means of force-feeding 'abatements' to developers. AND THEY WONDER WHY COMPANIES ARE AFRAID TO LOCATE JOBS HERE!?

Rant over. Good luck to you Tazmanio.

Posted on: 2007/6/15 21:47
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Re: shore club - property tax too high?
#57
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"So, what happens when values drop, as they invariably will do this year?"

The ratio is based on the trailing 12 months data and during that period (2006) prices in Jersey City most certainly went up. Therefore the Ratio is going down again this year (.24 to .25 are the rumored estimates). If the average sales prices in JC ever went obviously down, the Ratio would go up.

In practice that RARELY ever happens because responsible municipalities would typically have to go through a revaluation at least once every real estate cycle. In Jersey City, we are all still waiting, waiting, and waiting for the pols to do the responsible thing and reset the taxes - or go to the State for sweeping property tax reform like they did in California 30 years ago (Proposition 13). You won't likely see the Ratio go up in Jersey City as long as all the new construction continues, because the new condo prices have not dropped on a year over year basis even if home sales in Central Jersey have seen some price drops.

PS. Groucho you are very welcome.

Posted on: 2007/6/13 12:09
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Re: shore club - property tax too high?
#58
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A bunch of accountants at the State Division of Community Affairs determine the Equilization Ratio based on comparative home sales from one year to the next. The Equilization Ratio goes down by the % amount that the average home in a municipality appreciated in value each year. The NJ-DCA generates a new annual equilization ratio for each municipality.

For example, if in Jersey City this year's ratio is .28 and home prices increased on average 10% this year, the EQ Ratio would drop to about .25 in the following year.

Posted on: 2007/6/13 0:51
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Re: shore club - property tax too high?
#59
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The property tax rate is only half of the tax equation. Tax is calculated by multiplying value x rate x "equilization ratio"

The current equilization ratio for Jersey City is 28%5. Therefore the true Jersey City tax rate is .28 x .05175 = 1.44%

If you want proof that the Ratio really is .28, call the people on this page:

http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/finance.html

For further reference, read the section "Equalized Tax Rate" in the state document:

http://www.state.nj.us/dca/lgs/annual ... sary.shtml#Tax_Rate_and_L

An old but interesting article on how screwed up NJ's tax system is - you can infer yourself how this works with respect to newly valued (ie. newly built) properties such as the new condos on the waterfront is

http://www.aptcnet.com/articles/much_new_jersey.htm

Posted on: 2007/6/12 23:58
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Re: Da Mayor
#60
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Quote:

Granted, he's got the support of the Hudson County Political Machine. And high roller-real estate developer-types with toupees just love 'im.


Not true, he's constantly at odds with the County and the 'types' as you call them are generally afraid of him and try hard to stay off his political graft radar. Having the City where you invest's reputation constantly tied to someones's drunken and disorderly behavior is obviously not good for property values.

Quote:
But surely there must be a limit to the gullibility of the JC voting populace.


Apparently not.

Posted on: 2007/5/15 12:33
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